To Break Or To Overcome

“Inferno.”

Vim spoke in a low, chilling voice.

Several spheres of flame streaked toward the giant slime. The moment they collided with the creature, a massive explosion erupted, sending a pillar of fire roaring into the sky.

“Th-that’s… Inferno…” a member of the Magic Division stammered while watching Vim’s magic.

“Ho, so that is Inferno. I had heard the rumors, but to think someone actually capable of using it in reality existed,” Grand Master Camille remarked, his expression transcending mere surprise.

Inferno sits at the pinnacle of sorcery. It is what is known as Imperial-class magic.

After a while, the pillar of fire subsided. In its wake, there was no trace of the magical beasts or the giant slime; they had been completely obliterated.

“It’s finished. The ambient mana concentration is dropping as well, so we should be fine now,” Vim called out to Grand Master Camille, who was standing a short distance away.

“U-understood.”

“Well then, shall we move on to mopping up the stragglers?”

As Vim spoke, Camille began issuing precise orders. Vim expanded the range of his search magic to cover the entire forest. While this slightly decreased his accuracy, his base detection skill was high enough that a minor drop caused no practical issues.

“There are still quite a few slimes remaining in the eastern half of the forest.”

“Understood. I’ll allocate a few extra squads to that sector,” Camille replied, relaying the new orders.

“Then let’s go exterminate the ones on the west side.”

Magical beasts spawn naturally over time. If they aren’t culled periodically, it could eventually become a serious problem for a place like Radia, where there are few adventurers. Vim and his team systematically eliminated every slime and beast caught in the search magic.

A few hours later, the number of entities within Vim’s detection range had decreased significantly.

“That should do it. The numbers appearing on my search magic are sparse now, so I think we’ve culled enough,” Vim said to Camille, who was busy slicing through a beast with his sword.

“Understood. I’ll recall all units.”

The scattered squads were assembled by the Grand Master and prepared for withdrawal. They trekked back to where the carriages were parked and began the journey back to the city of Radia.

“Still, I had no idea you could use Imperial-class magic, Master Vim. You truly are a man worthy of the S-rank.”

“I try to only use Imperial-class magic in emergencies, as the output is a bit much to handle,” Vim replied.

The power of an Imperial-class spell was enough to easily level an entire city. After several dozen minutes, the carriages arrived back in Radia. Vim offered his hand to Hana as she stepped down.

“We will stay here tonight and return to the Royal Capital tomorrow morning. Please, get some well-deserved rest.”

“Thank you. Good work today, Grand Master Camille.”

With those farewells, they each returned to their rooms at the inn.

“Hana, you worked hard. You were a huge help today. Goodnight.”

“Yes! Goodnight, Master Vim!” Hana replied with a gentle smile.

Hana has started smiling again lately, Vim thought as he lay down on his bed.

When he first took her in, her eyes were vacant and she never smiled. However, through traveling and experiencing the world together like this, she was beginning to open her heart. This was undoubtedly a good sign.

To break, or to overcome.

The sense of loss from losing something precious is a heavy burden. Hana might have been leaning toward breaking. But through her encounter with the man named Vim Abel, she had found a flicker of hope.